BBE 381 Guitar Preamp

real easy to use, the controls are the same a a guitar amp, can't be more simple. i don't need a manual, turn the buttons and hear what happens ! any child can operate this unit.

i bought this unit not for guitar, i wanted distortion and extra eq on my vocals, and it ROCKS, i connect the 381 to the aux or insert of my mixer, its great to be able to switch between the clean and distortion channel, emediately gives a totally different sound,
the distortion can get real agressive and i love that, if u use gentle settings u just add a little bit of crunch to the signal, i like it!
Plus the built in bbe sonic maximizer is great, gives so much more clarity to my voice,
i did plug a guitar in it from time to time and found that the accoustic sounds (non distorted) were pretty decent, more clean than most amps i heard (but remember im not a guitarist), the distortion can scream on electric guitars, good!

i never had a problem with it, it doesn't hiss or make noise,
so well, i think i can give it a ten... i've been using it since a while, took it with me on live gigs and honestly, i abused the unit several times, it never complains, think its rock solid.

no idea, never had to contact them

i make experimental music, from real soft to agressive industrial,
this unit is perfect for mutilating the sound of vocals,
the distortion is why i bought it, the sonic maximizer is a real nice feature which adds clarity without adding hiss,
and the eq's are nice to get interesting sounds.
i'm not selling it, its worth the money (and pretty cheap IMHO)

I think the guy who said the 381 sounds like shit simply had a damaged unit. He claims the clean channel was distorted and the distortion channel sounded like shit. This is often due to someone damaging the unit by plugging a highly amplified source into the input.

mang this think is as easy as it needs to be

i am posting AGAIN since i noticed some negative posts here. these guys that are blaming their bad sound on the BBE 381.. they are full of shit. i'm telling you.. i have owned a BBE 381 guitar preamp they are somewhat rare and they do kick ass. Anybody that talks shit is just some loser who blames anyone and anything else for "making" the player sound like ass. I was complimented on my guitar tone hundreds of times when I was using the BBE 381. One majorly great thing about this unit other than guitar shredding and clean open chords (heh); the bbe 381 sounds great with other things running through it as well I.E. a keyboard synth

Never had any problems

BBE is great. I have contacted them and gotten back quick and concise information.

this thing owns u mang. the best solid state preamp i have seen in its price range.

Very easy to use, rack mounted, simple two channel interface with BBE effect built in.

The sound quality is really quite good. It is a solid state design that has some qualities of "Tubeness" to it. If you are looking for a multiple tube cascade preamp, i.e. mesa boogie or metal overdrive, this is not it. However, I think it has a very unique sound and is very touch sensitive.

I find that the clean sound is excellent for a "direct in" recording that has a natural compression and BBE effect on it. Live I like the clean sound better than a lot of tube gear and my digital modeler. The overdrive sound is not as versatile, but it really is surprisingly good. I think this is an excellent preamp to have in your arsenal. I would think of it as a solid state preamp so you are not dissapointed and expecting a tube sound, but I like it for that very reason. It has more snap and clarity than tube preamps and is a great sound in itself

It is probably from some time in the 80's and I bought is used in 2002 and it works like a charm with no problems.

Haven't needed to contact them, but despite the fact that it is a long dis-continued product, BBE has the manual and product info posted on their web site, a very good sign,

This is a great preamp for clean, clear sounds and for recording. I think the other reviews are unfair because it seems that the people writing them did not understood the device or what to expect from it.
I purchase it because after many years of using tube devices I wanted something with a little different sound- a cleaner and more striking sound, this definitely delivers in that area.

In fact, I recently built a small tube power amp with my 13 year old son and told him he could try all of my pedals and preamps and have whichever one he likes best. He chose the BBE 381, now I have to find another one!

you cant get a good sound out of this peice of shit all ss and bbe made a big mistake on this

its horrible if any one doesnt like a clean channel and wants a shit disstorion sound buy this the clean channel is like a overdrive channel and the disstotion channel sounds HORRIBLE i play metal and blues and its horrible for both u'll get a better sound out of a 5w bass amp than this

I have no idea i got ride of the shity thing right after i got it

never had time to bitch them out

IT SUCKS

This unit can either be used as a pre-amp that feeds a power amp and speakers, or as a recording unit with speaker simulators.It's stereo, so if you patch a stereo effects unit into the send-return jacks, you still get your stereo effects. It is 2 channel, switchable on the unit itself or with the included footswitch. It also has the BBE processessing that can be switched in from the unit.Came with a decent manual, but as long as you use the correct outputs, it's very easy to use.

Because the unit is totally solid-state, it does not not sound as good as my other 2 direct recording pre-amps, the H & K Metal Shredder and the Mesa Boogie V-Twin (see those reviews if you like).
On the dirty channel, like any high gain application, it's noisy with single coils, although it does have a built in noise gate that works pretty well, but there are no controls for the gate.I bought the unit to record with at any time without the hassles of setting up an amp, or keeping the family quiet while you're recording, and I thought having a choice between the Metal Shredder and the BBE would give me more variety of sounds. But I ended up using the Metal Shredder more often.

Very reliable. Worked from day 1, and still works fine. It is in a rack in my studio, and has never been moved, so it hasn't been tested for road-worthiness.

Never dealt with BBE.

If it were stolen or lost, I would probably get a Line 6 Pod or a Johnson J-Station, or nothing (since I don't record as much as I once did). I like that it's two channels, the BBE processing is ok, and it's fairly simple to use. The sounds are ok, but just ok.

Pretty easy

Used it with a good ESP tele w/Duncan JB humbuckers straight into a 50 watt non-master Marshall JMP-1. 1.It was noisy 2.Sucked away mashall tone. 3.Did not enhance anything. Made amp sound worse

Returned it next day. So I can't comment

Returned it next day. So I can't comment

I play acid rock, (ala Deep Purple, Sabbath) where I pretty much love the sound of a cranked marshall, but I need a tiny bit more juice to go over the edge(if you know what I mean). Most stomp boxes suck out some of the bottom end and I lose "meat" or "girth". I thought the sonic maximizer would be thw answer, but it just made my sound worse. DO NOT BE FOOLED by the other reviews. I have a strong feeling that they have written by employees of BBE.

This preamp is defiantly easy to use but it takes a little bit of time to really dial-in your tone. Any level player can benefit from this unit.

This preamp sounds great! I play an Epiphone-Gibson Les Paul Special straight to it and then out to anything I want. Plug this preamp into any powered unit and get great sound. Is has two channels, a clean and a distortion. Channel 1, the clean, sounds really nice and sweet. But Channel 2 is as dirty as you want. I trying to get a Dimebag Darrel metal sound. I have the Drive up about 3/4 bass 3/4 mid1 0/4 mid2 0/4 treble 2/4. Its great for any sound you want to get. It also includes a BBE Process which boost the sound and maximizes your tone. I'm not sure what it technically does but it sounds great.

I feel good about this preamp. Its durable but not to heavy.. which is important in a rack unit (1 space). I would never question whether or not this preamp is going to work.

I love this gear. I would never replace it with anything else. I have been playing guitar for 3 years now and I haven't played anything like it. Its my special girl...